Author's Notes: With Dark Reign having been a story that involved a lot of other characters than just Spider-Man, I thought it was only right to have some tie-ins told from other character's points of view. And for the first of these different one-shots, I decided to do Daredevil, during his first bad experience with the Superhuman Registration Act. This one-shot takes place around the time of Chapter 1 of Spider-Man Dark Reign and ends right before Chapter 2, which means it's set in late 2013.
Also, since this is being posted the same day the Daredevil miniseries is coming out on Netflix, I'm going to go out and say that I strongly recommend it to anyone who's a Marvel fan and especially a Daredevil fan. The only exceptions to that would be to the young ones and the squeamish, as it is pretty dang dark. Definitely feels very different from anything the MCU has done thus far. But it also benefits from blowing Agents of SHIELD out of the water, so there is that.
Daredevil, late 2013
Ten years. Had it really been that long?
There were times when he still couldn't believe it had been one solid decade, even now, after everything else he'd experienced and done in his life during the course of that decade. All of the fantastical things, all of the strange and wondrous events and beings who up until just a few years before Daredevil had first become Daredevil were considered the stuff of legends. Of science fiction. Of, well, comic books. Like the kind he'd read before his eyesight had been taken from him.
And yet, his was a world that was very much one of wonder. Of marvels. A world where men and women were no longer bound by such simplistic but still universally known laws such as "you can't fly without an airplane", or "you can only lift so much weight or punch so hard", or "One lone man could never possibly do that."
But these rules did not stop both people Daredevil had the pleasure of fighting alongside and also the misfortune of fighting against from blatantly violating every last one of them on a regular basis, to the point that they may as well have never existed at all.
But now, though he could not see the world with his eyes, Daredevil's other senses could feel the change. Gone were familiar sounds like the gasps of awe in the face of the Avengers performing another spectacular feat of heroics, or the fear people so often voiced in respects to either himself, his friend Spider-Man, or the all-too commonly maligned, mistreated, and scapegoated group of Mutants known as the X-Men.
Gone were familiar heartbeats that Daredevil had come to know as distinctly as if each of them had been the person's face on display. No longer did old friends and allies seem to inhabit every street corner, every part of New York City that could do well to have at least one good samaritan in a colorful costume on hand. Not, of course, that Daredevil would be able to appreciate that last one anyway. But the presence of friends he most certainly did.
It was not that his friends had fallen in battle, cursing Daredevil to be the lone survivor in some terrible war. No, if such a day ever happened, it was not yet here. Rather, the absence of his fellow superheroes had been of a less fatal but still systematic nature, and that was via one simple piece of paper called the Superhuman Registration Act.
The Act, so it went, required that all superhumans register their identities with the government and work directly for the government, or else be incarcerated until when or if they did. In other words, the choice was between a lifetime in prison, or a lifetime as a government slave. Not exactly flattering options.
So Daredevil chose a third. He chose to be defiant. For, in a way, this was always how he had been…
"Daredevil!" one of the bullies goaded with a sneer. Then he threw out a kick. That he was agreeable to kicking a boy half his size when he was already down had destroyed what little Catholic restraint Matt had left in him at that point.
"Come on, get up and take it like a man Daredevil!" another of the bullies taunted.
A third stepped forward and threw a punch as Matt staggered to his feet. This was a mistake. Matt caught the hand in his own, and forced it back, performing a wrist-lock that prompted the bully to howl in pain and jump back as though he'd been hit with a cattle-prodder. Seeing this, the other two bullies went at Matt, but now Matt was back on his feet in full, and, bruised and bloodied as he was, he now had something that the two bullies could not hope to match. He had something that gave him the strength he needed to throw that 'turn the other cheek' nonsense he'd been taught in Sunday School to the wind and give both of those pre-adolescent thugs the magnificent beatings they deserved that would also ensure they never, ever bothered him again.
Matt Murdock had the devil inside him.
Hell's Kitchen was of course, his neighborhood. His home. This place had always been his home, and it was to this day the place he was most active as Daredevil, even though by now it was precisely because of his ongoing presence that the area of New York was not anywhere near as deserving of it's infamous moniker as it had been in the past. But, crime was still a persistent virus, and Daredevil was always ready to fight it's symptoms.
His ears picked up more sounds that he could hear with such acuity he could have been mere inches away from the sources. He heard a woman screaming about how her landlord was always trying to bleed more money out of her. He heard a younger boy listening to loud (and in Daredevil's opinion rather crass and profane) rock music while his parents argued on the floor below about what their son should do with his life (Daredevil found himself siding more with the mother's argument), and finally he heard numerous people speak in hushed whispers that were not so hushed to his ears about all the Sentinels now roaming about in lieu of Daredevil's fellow superheroes. And this was the one that caught Daredevil's interest the most:
"I hear those things can adapt to any Mutant's powers. Means they can't fight back for long without the Sentinels overcoming them."
"Good." Said another, harshly. "About time we got rid of the Mutie scum. Remind them that this is a human city on a human planet."
"I don't know, I think they look kind of scary personally." Came a third voice, who's tone went some length to supporting the fear in his choice of words.
Daredevil sighed as he heard these things on the way back to his apartment, as he did also thinking: It isn't bad enough that they try to get rid of us. They also have to replace us with machines that would kill Lord knows how many with as little thought as a hurricane. And they have the nerve to say that's the better choice.
Finally, Daredevil made it back to his apartment in full and entered it, taking off his crimson mask with small horns and sitting down on one of his couches. He knew the location of every single thing in the place by heart, as everything had a fixed position that he'd grown quite used to over the years.
As he sat there, Matt spent some time ruminating over the current state of things, and more specifically on what the fates of his fellow superheroes were. He knew some of them had been arrested for their refusal to submit to registration, but he didn't know where they'd been sent to. No one did. But somehow, Daredevil doubted that it was any old prison, which would never be able to hold any superhero worth their salt anyways. That meant SHIELD and the government were likely resorting to more…"drastic" ways of keeping captured superheroes contained, and that alone made Daredevil want to know the truth.
Lucky him, there was one man who might be able to help with that.
"Thanks again for your help." Daredevil had said to Ben Urich outside his home the night after Ben had successfully covered the story that was at last able to put the dreaded Kingpin of Crime behind bars. Kingpin had flirted with prisons and also legal prosecution from time to time in the past, but this occasion would be different. Kingpin would not be escaping with a mere slap on the wrist this time.
"It was no trouble." Ben said, before pausing and then admitting: "No, no, that's not true. It was a lot of trouble. A lot of work. A great and terrible struggle for both of us I imagine. You most of all."
"I've been fighting since I was a child." Daredevil pointed out. "But you stood up to Kingpin and his thugs with nothing but your integrity and commitment to bringing him down. I'd say you're the braver man based on that."
Ben made a self-deprecating but cheerful smile. "Let's not kid ourselves: I'd have been dead several times over if you weren't always bailing me out whenever I got too close to the ugly truths."
There was a pause, before Daredevil asked: "May I ask you something?"
Ben nodded. "Ask away."
"You know my identity. You were probably the first one to figure out who I was all on your own. Karen and Foggy found out together, Elektra and Kingpin learned it from the Hand, and then Bullseye from them. I told Night-Nurse even when she refused to take my mask off when I was on her operating table out of respect for my secret. But you, you were the one who figured it out by yourself, just by digging in deep enough and chasing down as many leads as you could. So I have to know: why haven't you ever told anyone else? Somehow, I don't think it's pride at being the only one tenacious enough to uncover my identity."
Ben shook his head. "No, it's not that. It's the same reason I fought just as hard to help you take Kingpin down: because I believe in the greater good."
Remembering this, Daredevil continued to make his way to where Ben Urich's home was located, intending to pay his old friend a visit, and hoping as he did that he still believed in that same greater good.
He found Ben at his home when he arrived there. Upon seeing him, Ben motioned for Daredevil to come in, which the man in red did. As he entered, Ben said: "Rather dangerous time for someone of your profession to be out and about. Well, more than usual I mean."
"I know." Daredevil admitted. "I'd hate to endanger you by coming to you, but I need the truth behind a certain little mystery and you're the only one I can go to."
"What is it?"
"The superheroes who get arrested for refusing to register. I think we both know they don't go to an everyday prison."
Ben shook his head, before saying: "...and, you want me to try and find out where they are being taken?"
Daredevil nodded. "If you can, yes. I know it's asking you to take a big risk, what with it being SHIELD, but…"
Ben raised a hand. "Say no more. If I didn't want to take risks, Kingpin would still be running the show right now. And besides, I owe you. I'll see if I have any friends left in SHIELD or else connected to them that can give me some information. Once I get something, I'll call you back."
Daredevil nodded. "Thank you, Ben."
As Daredevil turned to leave, Ben said: "Take care of yourself out there, Murdock. Like I said: it's a dangerous time to be wearing a costume right now."
Daredevil nodded, but said: "I'm no stranger to taking risks too, remember?"
And with that, Daredevil was out the window and back out into the open city. As he made his way through, using his Radar Senses along with enhanced hearing and smell to alert him to nearby Sentinels that he then hid from or else avoided the path of entirely, Daredevil's mind again thought to how it had been a decade since he'd first appeared, and in turn he thought back to his earlier days on the job, back when his costume was one half brick red and the other half mustard yellow before he switched to a costume more appropriate for his name (not to mention a good deal more fashionable).
Things had been just a bit simpler in those days, making his way through the streets of New York underneath an ever dark colored sky as he operated as lawyer by day, and superhero by night. Simpler. Easier. So many of the complications and controversies that seemed to so characterize the present and the last few years besides hadn't been part of the equation then, much less the things that had happened to leave him where he was now, fighting long after any sensible man would have thrown up his hands and given up.
Or was it all just wishful thinking on his part, that things were better in the earliest years of the 2000s then they became in later years? Or was it just a classic case of a malcontent romanticizing the past in the hopes of finding happiness there that eluded him in the present? Daredevil honestly didn't know, but he did, as he sat down on a rooftop to catch his breath and also reminisce, remember what it had been like during his first night on the job…
Gunshots rang out. Daredevil heard them like firecrackers in his head. He moved his body out of the way before the shots could reach him. Before they had even been fired, he had moved. By the time the bullets actually came out of the gun, Daredevil was long gone.
Someone was charging towards him, his roar being so loud to Daredevil's enhanced ears it could have come from a dragon. In his nostrils Daredevil smelled much more distinctly than most the repugnant smell of the stench and alcohol that was all over the man. It gave away his position to Daredevil just as much as his bellowing, and Daredevil seized on that to punch him right in the face, hitting him hard enough to dislodge a tooth and knock out two more.
The man staggered, and Daredevil kicked him back. More men clambered over tables with clubs, pipes, and knives in hands, and Daredevil felt their heart beats pound ever more faster as they closed the distance.
Daredevil leaped over their heads and then landed behind them before going at them all. Moves of Karate that had been drilled into his mind to the point that they were as instinctual as breathing or speaking found their way into the thugs, disarming them of weapons, breaking or else fracturing bones, blacking out eyes, and ultimately leaving them all on the floor writhing in pain.
One man swung a baseball bat at Daredevil's masked head, but Daredevil's radar senses alerted him to this, and he ducked, the baseball bat missing his yellow masked head by mere inches. Daredevil sent out a kick, and the brick colored boot got the man right in his ribs, causing him to double over immediately. Grabbing his baseball bat with one hand, Daredevil swung out with it and actually hurled it in the direction of one last thug who was just then taking aim with his gun. The baseball bat sailed through the air before striking the gunman in the chest and causing him to fall backwards as though he'd been shot with an arrow.
It was only then that Daredevil allowed himself to breath a sigh of relief, now that all of his foes had been defeated. Tuning his senses, he detected rapid breathing, and a heartbeat that was pounding so fiercely it's sound was like a dozen drums. Following this heartbeat to it's source, Daredevil held out a gloved hand to the small, frightened young woman with short red hair cowering in a corner.
"It's alright." Daredevil assured her. "These men won't hurt you anymore, I promise."
The woman looked at the hand and then Daredevil's masked face with bulging eyes as she shook and shook like she was out in a blizzard. Bruises adorned her body and part of her clothes were torn, but thanks to Daredevil's timely intervention the men hadn't been able to do any more than this to her.
Finally, after what had seemed like almost half an hour, the woman nervously extended one hand to take Daredevil's, and with one, effortless yank he hoisted the young woman up onto her feet. This in turn was how Daredevil figured out how small she was. The disgust at what this pack of animals had been planning to do to her and indeed what they'd been mere moments away from doing before Daredevil had shown up made him want to spit out the bile that was rising in his throat. But thankfully, he had gotten there in time. This woman would be safe once she got to a hospital. And he'd make sure she got there.
"What's your name?" Daredevil asked, the question and also the hand on her small, bruised shoulder both trying to put her at ease as she gave her answer: "Mary." She said, almost stuttering as she said it.
"That's a good name." Daredevil said reassuringly.
Her full name, Daredevil had later learned, was Mary Walker. She had been a prostitute that was far, far too timid, innocent, and averse to any and all conflict for the line of work she'd been forced into out of desperation. Her employers weren't exactly sympathetic to her plight though, and thus they were not there for her when one of her nights on the job went horrifically wrong.
"You're brooding." Came a familiar female voice that Daredevil recognized immediately, along with the heartbeat he'd sensed for a great while beforehand.
"More like reminiscing." Daredevil said, before adding: "I'm relieved to know that I'm not the only superhero left in New York City."
"The rest of the Knights are all still active last I checked." White Tiger said, before walking over to the edge of the roof the two superheroes were on and sitting down next to Daredevil. "...but I have to admit, I'm not sure how much longer that will last. Now that all the heavy-hitters have either registered, suffered for saying no, or straight up disappeared, they're going to start coming after us "street-levelers" next. In fact, I think they already have."
"It would seem our days are numbered." Daredevil said, a remark that was plainly obvious and had been for some time, but then that was why he'd said it: to illustrate that there really wasn't much more to be done about the whole business at that point.
"You don't seem pretty upset by that." White Tiger noted. "I'd have thought this sort of thing would upset you the most. I mean, you and Spider-Man are the very first street-levelers. You've been around the longest by far, and you've kept your identities secret all that time. If anyone should be upset by this, it would be you."
Daredevil let out a deep, long sigh as though as it were the very last exhalation of air he would ever give. Then, he said simply: "To be honest, I'm a bit conflicted on how I should be feeling. On the one hand, you're right: I am the kind of hero who prioritizes dealing with the street-crime over the world-threatening crises I couldn't even handle if I tried to, and I'm also someone who has ample reason to keep his identity secret. But, at the same time it is hard not to feel like a dead man walking. Like you said, the situation has gotten pretty bad for us all. Sooner or later you and I will face the same ultimatum as the others, and so will the other Knights. And with things looking as hopeless as they are, I may just agree to sign on."
White Tiger's green eyes widened in surprise. "You're not serious are you?"
"Angela, I'm a lawyer. I recognize the validity of the law and authority, and appreciate it's place in society. I have never once considered myself a vigilante, as even as Daredevil I fight to stop crimes in progress. I do not indulge in the judge, jury, and executioner madness that so defines the Punisher, the Scourge of the Underworld, and others. I'm also in full agreement with the notion that all of us, including you and me, should be held accountable for our actions. Lastly, I do feel that us resisting the law might only make us look like the very monsters Osborn is making us out to be."
"Wow. I never thought I'd hear some of that coming from you."
"You're an FBI agent." Daredevil pointed out. "You already work for the government and they already know who you are. For you, nothing would change."
"True." White Tiger conceded before adding: "But I do care about you and the others. I don't want you all to become slaves to our government. That's not what our country is supposed to be about. We're supposed to have the right to choose. And as for accountability, we should be accountable to each-other, the same way I'm accountable to my fellow FBI agents and they to me."
"I don't disagree." Daredevil admitted. "Like I said, I'm conflicted. Although, when or if a friend of mine gets back to me on some information about our arrested friends, I may or may not be persuaded to pick one side over the other."
"What kind of information?" White Tiger asked. "I may be able to help."
"I want to know where they're keeping those among us who don't want to register." Daredevil said simply. "I want to know what will happen to me if I say no before I consider saying yes."
"I can understand that." White Tiger said with a nod. "They have been overly secretive about it all. Makes one suspicious."
"Exactly. So if you could learn what fate awaits me if I refuse to register, then I think I'll finally be able to come to a decision."
White Tiger nodded again. "Alright. I'll see what I can do." There was a pause, before White Tiger next said: "Darede-Matt, may I ask you something?"
"What?"
"Do you...do you ever feel lonely?"
"Every day." Daredevil said solemnly, but not woefully. As though he were a man being forced to pay the piper but doing so with dignity.
"I'm sorry."
"It's not through any fault of your own."
"Maybe not, but...you did get me onto the Knights you know. And you convinced them to keep trusting me even after it came out that I was with the FBI. I appreciate that a lot."
"You're good at what you do. And I consider you a friend."
"Nothing more than that?" White Tiger asked, taking one of Daredevil's crimson gloved hands in one of her white gloved ones.
"I…" Daredevil's uncertainty vanished almost as soon as it had manifested, replaced with iron resolution: "...no. I can't do that. I'm sorry Angela. But, I've experienced too many wounds to that part of my body. Wounds that can't heal as easily as the others. Never will heal."
Though he wouldn't be able to appreciate the gesture, White Tiger's face nevertheless took on a sad look. "What happened?" She asked.
"Too much." Daredevil replied bluntly and simply. "Suffice to say, I've buried enough women I loved."
"I'm sorry."
"So am I." Daredevil said simply as he thought back to the night it had happened:
"Elektra!" Matt screamed. Though he could not see her, Matt could sense how weak her heartbeat was. He could hear her labored breathing, which only became worse as she finished staggering to him before then collapsing in Matt's arms. He cradled her and brought her head close to his chest, feeling her body for where her injuries were. He felt bruises, small cuts here and there, but these were not the wounds that had left her in the state that she was. Then, after a moment more, he found it. And when he felt it he was hit with such a feeling that he was sure suffering the same wound as Elektra would have been preferable. Hers was a stab wound. One that had gone right through her and struck where she could not afford to be struck. His hands felt the blood and were soon soaked in it.
"Elektra, Elektra please, don't go. Hang in. Stay strong a little longer…"
"Matt…" Elektra said weakly, so much so that it was soft and faint even to his ears. "Matt…" She repeated. Perhaps she was going to say something more, to say that she loved him, that she wished things had worked out differently for both of them, or perhaps just to say that she was sorry for the pain she'd caused them both. But instead, as she uttered his name one last time, Matt felt her heartbeat slow and then finally stop outright, and when it did, he felt as though his own would stop as well. He felt cold, his body shook violently, and tears streamed down his face as he held the body of his estranged love in his arms.
"ELEKTRA!" Matt screamed, clutching her tightly to him, sobbing, screaming, and refusing to let go. His enhanced senses dulled, and rage and grief took him in their vile embrace, swallowing him whole as he felt his world shatter like glass hit by a thrown rock. And this rock was stained with the blood of his love, blood that now covered his body almost as much as hers. And all the while he screamed.
It was a few days after his meetings with first Ben Urich and then White Tiger that he got word from both of them on their findings. Deciding to go to the former first, Daredevil asked him what he had found.
"Well, it seems that SHIELD now has something called 'Number 42', and that that's where the superheroes are sent. Couldn't actually learn what Number 42 is supposed to be though."
"Well, it's a prison of some sort." Daredevil deduced. "But it still doesn't tell me anything about where it is or what it's like, though I think I can guess to the latter well enough."
"I'll keep digging." Ben Urich offered. "See what else I can learn with a little more time."
"That may not be necessary." Daredevil said. "I'm going to another friend for information next. Hopefully she can fill in the blanks."
But, as Daredevil left Ben Urich's home and took to once more making his way through New York City, as always letting his Radar Senses and heightened hearing and smell tell him where to go, he never actually got to White Tiger. Instead, he ended up a little…sidetracked.
"Matt. I've been looking for you."
"Is that right? Please tell me you haven't come here for what I think you have Natasha."
"If what you think I'm here for is to convince you to sign a single piece of paper and in doing so save more lives, then yes, that is exactly what I am here for. Don't make this difficult Matthew."
Matthew. The mere fact that she was calling him that told him that she was even more without humor on this day then she normally was. That a light drizzle was beginning to fall as well presaged things more grim then a mere rainstorm.
"I'm not convinced having the government's leash around my neck will save more lives." Daredevil said evenly.
"Don't be an idiot." came Black Widow's response, the tone every bit as harsh as the words themselves. As always, the uncompromising and deadly agent would not let personal feelings or any sentimental attachment to the past they'd once shared get in the way of her mission and duty. "612 innocent people burned to a crisp. That can't be ignored or written off. And you, Matthew. You are a lawyer. You already serve the law. Why should this be any different?"
"I serve the law because it is my choice to do so. Servitude without choice and being unable to object to or compromise unfair laws is slavery and you know it. I'm not against accountability for superheroes, but we've always been accountable to one another! Why does that have to be different?"
"Is that you talking, or White Tiger?" Black Widow asked, her tone still harsh and unforgiving.
"Perhaps we're not as far apart in our thoughts on this matter as you'd like to think."
Black Widow's frown deepened. "You should know, Matthew, that SHIELD is already sending men to give her the very same ultimatum I am giving you right now. And for God's sake I hope you both have the good sense to take it. I don't want to have to put you down."
"Nor I you." Daredevil said. "But I won't compromise my principles for even a friend, something you of all people should know about me. And that's also why I'm asking you this now: what is Number 42?"
"What?"
"You heard me." Daredevil said, his voice now every bit as bereft of humor as Black Widow's was, and with the drizzle having now turned into a more serious rain. "What is Number 42? I want an answer, and I'll know if you're lying."
Black Widow raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure, Matthew? I can be a very good liar and actor when I wish it."
"Natasha, please. I know it's where the unregistered superheroes that have already been arrested are being sent. I want to know where it is and what kind of a prison it is. I'm entitled to that much at least."
Black Widow sighed and said simply: "It's a prison for metahumans. It's in the Negative Zone. They don't want word leaking out because if the public learns it's not on American soil it could lead to...'complications'."
"Complications." Daredevil repeated slowly, the word suddenly becoming absolutely vile to his ears. "Is that what we're calling it now? Violating basic Constitutional and Civil rights and condemning people who have risked life and limb to save others to imprisonment in another dimension for the rest of their lives if they refuse to register. Complications?" Daredevil shook his head. "I'm glad you told me that Natasha. Because now my conscience couldn't be clearer. I'm not registering."
"I shouldn't have told you then."
"I'd have demanded the truth if I had registered." Daredevil countered. "I don't follow or obey blindly or mindlessly, and I didn't think you did either. I'm disappointed, Natasha."
Black Widow gave Daredevil an almost pitying look. "Then you don't remember me as well as you should."
What came next happened with astonishing suddenness. Daredevil's ears heard the motion of Black Widow rapidly raising her arm, and he both heard the mechanisms of her Widow's Bite wrist weapons and also smelled the hot air as the electricity of the weapons charged up. He knew she wanted to end it as quickly as she could, and he felt the same. So he did.
Surging forwards before Black Widow could fire out her Widow's Bite, Daredevil put to use the knowledge of boxing he'd had long before he knew a single move of Karate, Judo, or Ninjitsu and drove his red-gloved fist into her face, striking Widow with enough force to knock her backwards. Black Widow staggered and swayed, stars covering her vision before it then went dark as the world swam in front of her. Then, she collapsed.
I'm sorry Natasha.
With Black Widow down, Daredevil took that as his cue to leave as soon as he could. Once he put some distance between himself and Black Widow though, he tried to contact White Tiger, only to get no response. Uncertainty and perhaps even the very thing he was known as being without began to enter his mind and his pace quickened. Could White Tiger have already been taken into custody? Was he now truly alone, separated from what few costumed friends he had left?
Daredevil shook his head. Now was a particularly poor time to be getting pessimistic or fatalistic, and so he kept moving, planning to go back to Hell's Kitchen where he'd figure out his next move. As he made his way there though, he tried to reach Spider-Man and Black Cat, but they too did not respond.
Damn.
By this point, the rain had also become a full-fledged downpour, and the sound of the rain filled his ears and felt like a stampede of human feet. Or perhaps that was his own pounding heart as he continued to run, realizing more and more with every step that the moment he and White Tiger had prophesied had come even sooner than expected. SHIELD, and quite possibly Harry Osborn's Dark Avengers as well, would now be after him. Actively hunting him. And Daredevil knew without having to think about it for even a moment that he would never be able to take them all on by himself.
Upon entering Hell's Kitchen, Daredevil heard the cries of a young woman being attacked by a man, who's angry voice shouted at her to shut up. Remembering once more Mary, Daredevil intercepted the cries and screams and dropped down on the man. Any criminal of any level of intelligence would have taken that as an invitation to run in the opposite direction, but this man was instead more in favor of thrusting with his knife arm, which Daredevil grabbed, dislocated, and then threw to the side before driving the butt-end of one of his billy clubs into the man's nose, hitting it hard enough to break it and also knock him back.
But, as a sloppy punch that Daredevil easily side-stepped out of the way of indicated, the one man hadn't come alone.
Detecting three other heart-beats, Daredevil went from one to the next in rapid succession, billy clubs drawn and striking the men with such speed and force that one or two hits were enough to bring each of them down, and thus all three were bested in short order. As they fell though, Daredevil heard the sound of tires screeching to a halt, which for him was a sound sufficient to make his ears cry out in woe. Then following this sound came that of a large metal door sliding open, and then after that heavy metal, armored boots slamming down on the wet pavement, and then running towards where Daredevil was. Daredevil in turn took that as his cue to leave, but as he was did, he was cut off by a helicopter that also flew in overhead.
"Freeze! Stop right where you are!"
Daredevil did as he was told, and next thing he knew several more of the armored men had come down from the helicopter and had guns trained on him.
"You're in violation of the Superhuman Registration Act. Stand down and come with us, or we will open fire and put you down."
"And you're in violation of my civil rights." Daredevil said evenly. "The Registration Act is unconstitutional. Civil service is not mandated by law, much less being tethered to the government for life."
One of the Cape-Killers looked at his fellows before looking back at Daredevil. "Buddy, with a mouth and words like that, you should have been a lawyer." Then, he turned back to his men. "Take him down. And not gently either."
Doing a backwards cartwheel right before the shots could be fired, Daredevil then launched himself off the edge of the roof with his hands, falling before using his billy club to latch onto the nearby fire-escape and swing to safety. The Cape-Killers on the ground opened fire, but Daredevil avoided their shots long enough to land onto the roof of the armored car the Cape-Killers on the ground had shown up in, before then running off it and into the streets.
"Dammit! Target's on the move! Follow him! Don't let him get away!"
Daredevil continued to run, deciding against his usual strategy of going up onto the rooftops in view of the helicopter, and instead just kept running through the streets, going as fast as he could.
But, fast as he could run, the armored car was faster.
It cut off Daredevil's path, and then the armored men came bursting out of it once more. Daredevil avoided the opening shots and went at the Cape-Killers with as much speed and fury as he could. He hit hard enough to hurt them even with their body armor on, even cracking the shield-visor of one as he grabbed another's gun and wrenched it out of his grip.
As it had been so many years ago, how it had been for quite possibly his entire life, Matt Murdock had the devil inside him.
The Cape-Killers fell, but not quickly enough. One finally managed to get lucky and hit Daredevil in the back of his head with the butt end of his gun. Daredevil spun about and paid the Cape-Killer back by kicking him in the side of his helmeted head with enough force to stagger him. Another tried to bull-rush, but Daredevil side-stepped and then tripped him with his billy clubs.
Unfortunately, as Daredevil was fending off the Cape-Killers, more showed up, guns raised and aimed right at Daredevil. But before they could fire, they too came under attack, namely from White Tiger, who drove her white booted foot into one's face, and then summarily disarmed and downed another. Daredevil recognized her heartbeat immediately.
"You shouldn't be here." Daredevil said. "They'll capture you too."
"We stick together hornhead." White Tiger said as she ducked under one punch from a Cape-Killer before giving him one to the jaw. "That's what friends and teammates do."
"You sound just like Spider-Man." Daredevil noted as he ducked under a punch and then retaliated. "That's exactly the kind of thing he'd say to me. Exact wording too."
The fierce fighting continued, but steadily, the Cape-Killers began to fall. Finally, the last one went down to a double-attack from Daredevil and White Tiger striking him in tandem. Once he fell, Daredevil took note of how so many heartbeats of people in the crowd watching were heightened dramatically, but he didn't need that to tell him that anyone watching would be afraid. Merely by defending themselves Daredevil and White Tiger were looking like the villains Harry Osborn insisted they'd become.
"We can't stay here." Daredevil noted.
"No, we can't." White Tiger admitted before adding: "They nearly got me at my house before I bailed. Before I did though, I learned some things, and I just thought I should tell you about..."
"I already know what the Number 42 prison is, and where it's located. Natasha told me."
"...about how there's a resistance movement now. Or so I've heard. They say Captain America's leading it. I think we should-"
But White Tiger didn't finish her sentence. She was cut off when several tranquilizer darts hit her square in the back, her costume taking most of them but a few managing to pierce it and her skin both. White Tiger groaned and then staggered, before then falling. Daredevil caught her, but then was nearly hit with tranquilizers himself. Cursing under his breath, Daredevil hoisted White Tiger into a bridal carry and then took off with her in his arms.
As he continued to run though, Daredevil continued to hear the sirens, continued to hear the sounds of the armored cars as they came after him and White Tiger. He tried to cut through back alleyways, but still he could hear them. Perhaps if he could go faster and maintain his path through the back alleys he could escape them, but with White Tiger still dangling in his arms, his progress was slowed. But he would keep going. He wouldn't let up. He'd keep running until either he and White Tiger were both safe, or were both in custody.
Eventually, Daredevil took himself and White Tiger to a bar long since closed down and abandoned. He set her down and tried to take a moment to regain his bearings, still hearing the sirens and the tires of the Cape-Killer's armored car off in the distance. As he did though, White Tiger began to moan: "Ah...my head. What happened?"
"You were hit with tranquilizers. You're still probably woozy from the drugs. Let me see if I can't find some water in here..."
"No, no that's alright." White Tiger looked at Daredevil hard and said: "Matt...they're still after us, aren't they?"
Daredevil nodded. "Yes."
"They won't stop until they catch us."
"I know."
"Matt...if things get bad...I want you to keep running without me. Leave me behind if it's necessary."
"No. You were the one who said we stick together."
White Tiger nodded. "I did. But I also believe in taking one for the team. The two of us together in Number 42 won't do anyone any good. At least one of us needs to find the resistance and join it. And then help it stop Osborn and end his control over us and how we do what we do."
"I don't want to leave you behind."
"If one of us has to leave the other, we need to do it. I don't want to. It goes against so much of what I believe in, but...it has to be done. Promise me that you're willing to do that for me, Matt."
"I..." Daredevil wanted to say that no, he couldn't promise, but instead, to his surprise, he said: "I promise."
"Thank you."
Daredevil realized that he could feel White Tiger's heart beating fairly rapidly for someone who was still half-sedated, as the slurred speech in her words up to that point was also showing. But, he realized that his own heartbeat was beating in much the same way, and he quickly realized, it was for the same reason.
"I can't promise you much else then that though." Daredevil said apologetically as White Tiger closed the distance between them. "I can't promise you a life together with happiness, and warmth, and a family to call our own. I've suffered a lot in my life, Angela."
"I know." White Tiger whispered, before then raising her white gloved hands to the corners of Daredevil's red mask and tugging on it. Soon, the mask was forgotten, and Daredevil stood there now unmasked as Matt Murdock. White Tiger smiled as she ran white fingers through his red hair, before then gripping the back of his neck with that one hand. Matt allowed himself to smell the sweetness of White Tiger as he lifted her chin with one hand and brought her lips to his, wishing as he did what he had always wished whenever he had kissed Elektra or Black Widow or Karen Page: that he could see the face of his lover, for even just a moment.
But what he did have in this moment though, was something that, amidst all the turmoil and uncertainty and strife, he really ought not to have had but did anyway. What he had in that moment, as he kissed White Tiger and allowed himself to, for just one moment, feel the warmth of love again shining it's rays over the many cracks and scars and wounds over his long suffering heart, was the realization that the devil inside him had been tamed in this one single moment.
Tamed, but not forgotten or lost. It couldn't be. He would need that devil inside him for what lay ahead.
Here's to another ten more.
Author's Note: And there you have it. This is the first of my one-shot tie-ins to Spider-Man Dark Reign. Hope everyone enjoyed it. And it was definitely fun to get to write for another of my favorite Marvel superheroes. My fourth favorite overall actually behind Spider-Man, Captain America, and Black Panther (the latter of whom will also be getting a one-shot later on.
For those who feel I gave Widow the short end of the stick, I think I should point out that in 616 Daredevil one-shotted Black Widow, and she's also lost to Bullseye and Lady Bullseye on different occasions, two characters Daredevil's beaten multiple times each. She was also stalemated by Punisher, who Daredevil has also beaten repeatedly, and has even conceded that Punisher is stronger than her. So ultimately, I chose to make my versions of the characters more in line with their 616 versions in terms of capabilities.
Trivia Time!
1. Daredevil's first appearing in 2003 in my MU is a reference to the year the infamous Daredevil movie came out, a film that frankly was nowhere near as awful as people made it out to be, but was also I admit still disappointing overall, and definitely not holding a candle to the Netflix mini-series or any of Marvel's better films. Overall, a B-Movie, or perhaps a C+ one. But definitely not an F- the way it's generally remembered as.
2. Ben Urich is a reporter for the Daily Bugle who is commonly associated with Spider-Man and especially Daredevil. He first appeared in Daredevil Issue 153 in 1978, and actually deduced Daredevil's secret identity in 616 like he did in my Marvel Universe.
3. Mary Walker is the real name of the supervillain Typhoid Mary, who in 616 was indeed a prostitute before becoming a supervillain with Dissociative Identity Disorder, often incorrectly labelled Schizophrenia by the ignorant. In my Marvel Universe, things turned out a bit happier for her...for the most part.
4. The Scourge of the Underworld who got a mention alongside the more well-known Punisher is a Captain America villain who's original incarnation was a man in white with a skull mask that would go about killing criminals in the vein of the Punisher, but also being willing to kill supervillains. Every time he would kill someone, he would shout: "Justice is served!" However, after being defeated by Captain America and put under arrest, he was himself killed by a man that shouted: "Justice is served!", this man then becoming a second Scourge. Since then, there have been several Scourges, one of them being the 1950s Bucky Barnes Jack Munroe, who also went by a third identity known as Nomad. The original Scourge first appeared in Iron Man Issue 194 in 1985.